Johannesburg – Load shedding and the energy crisis were non-existent when Ramaphosa took over as South African president in February 2018.
This is the view of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), which has written an open letter for President Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of his 8th State of the Nation Address (Sona).
The party said this address comes at a critical time for the country, which is currently facing an array of socio-political issues, which include Eskom’s energy crisis, unemployment, crime, and service delivery issues.
The ATM is not the only political party that has called for Ramaphosa to act decisively on a range of issues; the same sentiments have been echoed by the DA and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP).
The ATM said that since February 2018, when Ramaphosa delivered his first Sona, load shedding had not been an issue because it was resolved by Eskom executives at the time.
“ATM has made a startling revelation that from the beginning to the end of the February 2018 Sona by Ramaphosa, the two critical words ‘energy’ and load shedding’ do not feature anywhere in the entire address. This is because there was no load-shedding problem when he took over the reins as head of state,” Zungula said.
According to the ATM, the only time Eskom was mentioned was to gloat over the triumph over the then administration in ending load shedding.
The ACDP said it expected Ramaphosa to take the nation into his confidence by giving clear guidelines on how he will solve the energy crisis.
“The greatest threat to South Africa is Eskom and the ANC. We expect the president to take the country into his confidence by giving clear guidelines on how the energy crisis will be addressed. Anything short of this will just be another one of his promises that will go unfulfilled,” the ACDP said.
The ACDP said it also wanted Ramaphosa to address the country’s economic crisis, rising debt and the unemployment crisis.
“The ACDP further expects the president to concretely address our economic crisis of debt and unemployment. He should also speak to the increasing and unacceptable levels of poverty, inequality, crime, and corruption. Unless these pressing issues are prioritised and proactively addressed, each month will see the poor and vulnerable worse off than the month before,” the party said.
The Star